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Good Ideas Forever
Bruce had a lot of crazy plans. Stephen was incredibly tolerant of half baked plans I would come up with on a slow work week. Some of them fit in the campaign, some of them didn't. Bruce related stuff like this: "I have decided what I want to do with the explosives that we have looted from the temple. I would like to secretly rig our new mansion to self destruct in thirty seconds (six rounds) if I ever utter the phrase "By the power of Bruce, Harosh giveth and Harosh taketh away!" while inside the mansion. Why? Because every lair needs a self destruct mechanism! If your lair cannot explode at a moment's notice, you are doing it wrong. Dragon Slayer "How many of the obscure events in history, plagues, loss of life, destruction of civilizations, had been done at the whim of dragons?" -Bruce Telaro not only insulted him with offers of wealth and power, he never delivered on it. But what could Bruce do? They may be few in number, but Dragon's were mythical, immortal beings, supposedly invulnerable, and possessed powers that spat on the gods.Then Kyer-Ixidar. Dragons could be killed, they could be tricked, they were prone to insecurities and pride. The game could be stopped, all he would have to do: kill all of the dragons. Step 1: Make Dragons a commodity. Bruce began studying the body of the dragon, absorbing every detail of their anatomy, defenses, weaknesses. He used his friends for a series of experiments intended to give Draconic strengths to those strong enough to fight them. While bearing Telaro's mark, he could not tell people that Dragon parts can vastly improve the health and fighting abilities of warriors, or that they could be grafted to technology. But people will talk. They will see a working airship constructed from biotechnology by an earth cleric. They will see a sorceror rip dangerous beasts to shreds using powerful grafts. They will see a dragonborn given the gift of flight. And most importantly they will see a working graft on a non draconic creature. Everyone will want one. There are smart people in the world. We won't need to tell them we killed a dragon. Someone will just figure it out. Step 2: Fake death. Bruce will not involve the Scales in his plans. If his end game was ever revealed, every dragon in the Skylands would want to kill all of them, Telaro might even order the Scales to stop him. Bruce has secretly combined the enchantments on his boots of striding and springing with his gnomish escape boots. He has already learned that the mark of Telaro can be erased. The next time a true threat attacks the mansion he will activate the self destruct, get the Scales out of the building, and dimension door outside the city to a secret excavated shaft. There will be a credible reason there is no body, and once the mark is erased, even Telaro will agree that Bruce is no more. Step 3: Conquer Iounopolis. Bruce will secretly marshal all the forces of the CCC, Harosh, and Imaunte to send a crusade to Iounopolis. Without the mark of Telaro, Bruce will be able to freely describe dragons and their unstoppable powers. Neutrality will agree that we must hunt dragons to extinction to harvest them for their power. Step 4: Upset the game. Bruce intends to breed himself an army of loyal dragons, dragons that won't know anything about the game. The complexity of dragon cloning and breeding required materials and devices that only existed in the legends of Iounopolis. Since I don't know if I will ever be able to return to the game, Bruce could be an NPC they meet far down the line in Iounopolis, slowly building his army of loyal dragon and half dragon supersoldiers in a post apocalyptic city. Whether Bruce will still be on track by then or a twisted shadow of what he once was is up to you. The Last Will and Testament of Bruce I am aware that because of time constraints Bruce may not make it back to the mansion in time during the final session. So I will have to trust you with Bruce's gambit, going out like a champ in a fireball that can be seen from space. Bruce has left two wills in the possession of the mayor, one marked 'To be read in the event of Bruce's death, should he fall defending his friends:' "My fellow heroes and heroines, If you are reading this, then I am likely dead. My only hope is that I died cursing death, murdering my numerous enemies in an ever-expanding fireball that can be seen from space, burying myself in the dark cataclysmic quake of Harosh's earth. I have few regrets. Mostly dying. That goes without saying. I probably would have preferred that part didn't happen. I'm looking at you Krytos. But one of the regrets I never had was meeting all of you. Krytos, you were my truest friend. The compact between Harosh and Phol-Phoram prevented me from sabotaging the pursuit of your own faith. Know that were I not contractually obligated I would have stopped at nothing to turn your intuitive potential for destruction towards the power of making and breaking. May your wings spirit you quickly to your revenge. Acerbitox, you fulfilled my secret goal to turn someone into an unstoppable dragon monster. Your complete disregard for your own well being was a precious gift. I owe you the most of everyone. Carrug, you're the only one in this party who uses an actual weapon. I always appreciated that. Moegid, I tried to make everyone something special, you were the hardest to make for. I leave to you the S.S. Flying Brick. Though it is dangerously unfinished at the time of this writing, I'm sure I will have finished tuning it by the time this is read. It contains several prototypes I am confident you can fix, my blueprint sketches are in a secret compartment in the cargo hold. Your keen alchemical skills will make you a fine captain. And Yvaine, I knew you the shortest amount of time. I regret never joining forces to create an unstoppable eldritch machine. As I am now gone, the contract between the Scales of Justice and the church of Harosh is extinguished. I now return Power of Attorney, franchising rights, distribution rights, and the rights to your likenesses that you all signed over to me in perpetuity when you signed our charter (You should probably hold onto this document, you'll need it to prove you have the right to make your own financial decisions on my behalf). Do not be sad. I am with Harosh now in a realm of endless land, a world where there is no roil, only more room to explore and build. Every item I forged for you flashes with a terran prayer to Harosh when used, so know that even though I am not beside you, I'll be listening. May your forge be hot. Good ideas forever. P.S. I almost forgot! I should probably tell you the passcode to deactivate any explosives I secretly installed just in case someone stumbles on the detonation phrases. I don't have enough time to tell you all the locations. I mean, I had a lot of explosives. Also I forgot a few of them. Just walk around town saying the deactivation password and it should probably be fine. The deactivation password is" there is a smear after this part. The mayor will also accidentally give them a letter marked 'To be read in the event of Bruce's death, should his companions discover his secret plans and be forced to kill him:' Should they open and read the letter it should say: Fools! So, you discovered my secret experiments and foiled my plans before it was too late! Well, you may have stopped me, but you'll never stop my revenge! Remember that ruin filled with island destroying levels of explosives that everyone forgot about? I didn't! Not only have I rigged the mansion to explode upon my death, I've buried explosives all over Murkheath, so perfectly that no amount of searching will ever detect them. They are rigged to explode when a certain uncommon word is uttered! And that's not the best part! Everything I've worked, every surgery, every magical nick nack I've ever put on your person has secretly been infused with magics and explosives, impossible to detect, impossible to remove, ready to detonate the second different pass codes are uttered. Speak softly everyone, and don't sit too close to Acerbitox! Bwahahahaha! We both know Bruce would never trap his companions with explosives even if they were going to kill him. But Bruce is not above spite, and figures this will be a pretty convincing lie after the mansion explodes. Plan B Since Bruce is a cleric of Harosh, he has already contacted a member of the CCC to be ready to kill him and breath of life him almost immediately after he leaves Murkeath. One of the benefits of being a member of a large religion is you can always reach a cleric. I have also considered the fact that Bruce would have a backup plan in the event that he is unable to rouse a large force to take Iounopolis. In either case, he would want a smaller, elite, specialized force that would protect him on his journey deeper into the techno horror island of Iounopolis. He would call these shadow lieutenants The Scales of Vengeance. If you have no plans for them, Bruce would like to recruit Heiniken, Purrfa (if Devon is no longer in the game), Grizz, and Zorne. He'll consider recruiting Draika, but her morals may be a problem. It would be helpful for Bruce to have people he trusts, and it will satisfy a primal need to have an ambiguous party of antiheroes opposite the Scales of Justice.